Swim
by Kelsey
Summary: What will it take for communication to be restored between alienated couple Max and Liz? Plus, what about Liz and the other characters. Post- S2, summerfic.
1. Default Chapter

****

Swim

by

[Princess McPhee][1]

Disclaimer: I disclaim. Not mine. M. Metz, Jason Katims, UPN. All not me.

Summary: What will it take to get a little communication going between the so-far alienated Max and Liz this summer? Plus, what's going on with Liz and rest of the gang?

Rating: PG-13

> Dear Diary:
> 
> I'm Liz Parker, and it's a hot day in late June right now. I'm with Isabel, Maria, Michael and Kyle at the local pool. Max is here too, but surprise, surprise! The King has lowered himself, at least temporarily, to the level of us lowly humans! He's life-guarding the larger of two pools, along with an assistant, for the next three hours, amazingly enough.
> 
> I think Kyle's only here because he wants to do something and force Max to blow the whistle on him. In fact, I know that's why he's here, because he's already misbehaved 'accidentally' twice. He seems to get a real kick out of agitating our local alien leader. I'm not sure why.
> 
> Isabel is wearing this bikini you wouldn't believe. Earlier, when she was swimming real, honest laps, she was wearing the littlest piece of fabric that could be called a one-piece, and now this. I think she's trying to attract the guys. And it sure is working! But the funny thing is, she doesn't seem happy about it when she does.
> 
> For a little while, I was upset, but now I understand. I thought that she was being careless with Alex's memory, but then I got it. I think she's trying to attract the attention to prove she can, or to force herself to think about a guy other than Alex. But it doesn't look like it's working very well.
> 
> I'm gonna go now, and see if I can pry Maria off of Michael's lap, and onto the diving board. It won't be easy, but I'm bored, and definitely up for a challenge.
> 
> And, there goes Kyle. He just did a backflip off the high dive, which is definitely not allowed, and Max's whistle is in his mouth faster than you can say "Got ya!" And now, he's playing the innocent act when Max's partner swims out and talks to him. God, who will ever understand guys?
> 
> Liz stood, displaying the somewhat modest two-piece she'd worn, and headed towards where Maria was flopped out on her stomach, about two inches from where Michael lay on his back, his hand wrapped possessively around hers. He appeared to be sleeping, but Liz knew that wasn't so. The aliens never slept in the open. They could barely sleep in the safety of their own home.
> 
> She didn't attempt to keep her voice down when she called her friend, knowing she couldn't wake a person who wasn't really asleep. "Maria!"
> 
> Maria groaned, and opened her eyes, squinting into the sun. "What?" She asked.
> 
> "Come swim with me?"
> 
> Maria closed her eyes again. "Liz, it's hot."
> 
> Liz rolled her eyes, Maria-style. "That's why we're at the pool."
> 
> Maria cracked one eye. "Haven't you ever heard that heat makes a person lazy?"
> 
> Liz gently kicked her friend in this ribs. Maria rolled protectively, pulling her hand from Michael, who immediately turned to look at the situation, and then lay back down, without a word. "Liz!" Maria cried.
> 
> "Maria!" Liz mocked.
> 
> Rolling her eyes, Maria scrambled slowly to her feet, yawning and stretching as she followed her friend across the deck. "Okay, I'm up. Now, what do you want to do?"
> 
> "Let's go diving."
> 
> Maria stopped stock-still, and waited. "Or not."
> 
> Liz turned to face her. "Please?"
> 
> "Liz, I look like a big chicken falling from the rafters. You know I can't dive."
> 
> Liz laughed lightly. "No, you don't. Besides, how could you tell? Have you ever seen yourself dive?"
> 
> Maria considered. "No, but I've heard all the laughing Spaceboy does whenever I try to."
> 
> Liz laughed harder. "Maria, you must know by now that anything Michael does on the outside is about as useful to telling what he thinks as a kitchen thermometer."
> 
> "What would a kitchen thermometer have to do with what Michael thinks?"
> 
> "That's my point. Nothing. Neither does anything he says, or does, at least when in public."
> 
> Maria considered this another moment. "You have a point. But I still don't want to dive."
> 
> "Come on!" Liz pleaded. "Just once. And then we can swim, and you and I can talk."
> 
> Maria looked around, and her eyes lit on Isabel, lying on one of the lawn chairs, her bikini nearly indecent, being ogled by at least a half a dozen guys, not all of them anywhere near her age. "Why don't you ask Isabel to go diving with you?" She said. "She's been lying there for hours, she must be hot."
> 
> Liz looked to where Maria's gaze was, and laughed again. "It's barely staying on as it is. If she tried to go diving, that thing wouldn't stand a chance."
> 
> The girls cracked up, and Maria covered her mouth to keep from making a lot of noise. "Alright," She said. "But just once."
> 
> Liz nodded, and dragged her friend away.
> 
> Insisting that she go second, Maria watched Liz make a perfect dive into the water, hardly creating a splash. Then, screwing up her face in general dislike of what she was about to do, she took a huge breath, and flung herself from the board.
> 
> She hit the water with a splash, and came up to see Liz's smiling face. But ten years of friendship didn't serve no purpose-- she knew that she hadn't looked _too_ stupid up there, because if she had, Liz's expression, if not her words, would have told her.
> 
> Treading water near the side, Maria and Liz watched the other divers. Kyle dove once again, this time keeping it to the allowed movements. He'd been warned that if he got two more warnings, he'd be kicked out. Liz figured that he was just waiting until they were almost ready to leave anyway, to use them. She didn't exactly approve of what he was doing, but he wasn't endangering anyone except himself, and she'd done her best to warn him, so she was going to let it go.
> 
> "Michael opened his eyes when you dove," Liz said casually, as if it were an easy conversation topic. Which, now, ironically, it might be. She'd expected the reaction she would have gotten from Maria two months ago: disbelief. Or maybe, what she would have done a year ago. Which was, ask Liz why she should care.
> 
> But now, Maria only smiled, and turned her head in his direction. He opened his eyes, almost as if by knowledge that she was looking at him, and met her gaze. He didn't smile, but Maria and Liz had both been around him long enough not to expect that. His eyes did seem to soften just a little when he met Maria's smiling ones, though.
> 
> Liz watched with curiosity. "Do you want to tell me what this is all about?" She asked.
> 
> Maria shrugged as best as she could while hanging onto the wall. "What what's all about?" She responded.
> 
> Liz tweaked herself so that she was face to face with her best friend. "The 'what' that you've been refusing to tell me about for the last two months. Why you and Michael are suddenly five times more civil to each other, almost on the side of 'mushy'. Why I've had to cover for you with your mom three times in the past two weeks. You were with him, weren't you? I'm not stupid."
> 
> Maria smiled a little regretfully, her secret out. "Just jealous?" She responded softly, intending it to be rhetorical.
> 
> Liz looked at her funny. "Jealous?"
> 
> "Yeah. I mean, it looks like you and Isabel are the last virgins. I know you thought about it with Max. I thought you'd be a little envious."
> 
> It was Liz's turn to smile a little sadly. "Maybe I am." Then she cheered up considerably. "But I'd never be upset, Maria. You and Michael... have something amazing, something indescribable. I mean... he gave up a chance to go _home_ for you. If you felt it was the right thing to do, then I'm happy for you."
> 
> Maria grinned, her secret off her shoulders. Finally, she had someone to talk to. "Is it okay... Do you want to... you know... hear?"
> 
> Liz smiled back. "Skip the gory details, but yeah. I'm dying to know."
> 
> Maria hopped from the bottom of the pool onto the side, where there was a shallow ledge, just right for sitting and staying wet. 
> 
> "You won't believe it. He wasn't even expecting anything, but he set up a table with candles, and made Italian food, and bought Scooby Do plates, because I'd told him they were my favorite. He told me that what he loved most about me was that he could see what I was thinking, feeling, in my eyes. I told him that I saw him, too, and he said no, I didn't. 
> 
> "And then, he told me... that he knew I'd been jealous of the flashes you used to get when you... you know, with Max, and that the reason I hadn't been able to get them, was because he hadn't let me. He was too closed up, I guess. Couldn't let go, couldn't be out of control.
> 
> "And he told me that he wanted to show me him. And he took my hand, and I got the most amazing flashes. I saw him when he was little kid, running from Hank. I saw him when he and Max and Isabel left the pods. And Liz... he had this image of me, smiling, with all the colors of the rainbow around it, shining so brightly...
> 
> "God, it's amazing to know that someone thinks of you that way." Maria looked dreamy, like someone waking up from a wonderful fantasy. Or, in her case, a dream with a real alien partner.
> 
> Maria looked over at her best friend, though, and noticed that Liz was staring down at the water, splashing absently with her hands, gently, on the surface of the water. "You okay, Liz?"
> 
> Liz looked up, and forced a smile for her friend. "Yeah, I'm fine."
> 
> Maria looked a little worried. "Do you want me to stop?" She asked.
> 
> Liz gave a stronger smile, and focused on her friend. "No! Maria, it's just a little hard... because of... you know. But I want to hear."
> 
> Maria looked dubious, but continued. "Alright. Where were we?"
> 
> "He showed you his memories," Liz prompted. "And?"
> 
> "Well, he told me that he had something to tell me, but I didn't want the moment to end, so I shushed him, and kissed him. And then... you know what happened after that."
> 
> Liz looked at her friend in wonder, and Maria pulled back a little under the intense scrutinization. "What?"
> 
> "Remember that I said I didn't want to hear the gory details?"
> 
> "Yeah."
> 
> "Forget it."
> 
> Maria laughed. "Okay. What do you want to hear?"
> 
> "Did it hurt?"
> 
> Maria shook her head. "Privileges of alien boyfriends," She told Liz, grinning.
> 
> "So, he took your pain away?" She asked. Maria nodded. 
> 
> "I didn't think Michael could do that," Liz remarked.
> 
> Maria smiled. "He wasn't sure he could. I told him I didn't care, and he said he'd try. Apparently, it worked better than he thought it would."
> 
> "Did it hurt the next day?"
> 
> Maria grimaced. "It was sore. I was moving kind of slow that morning, and I would have been moving slower. But I guess we were more concerned with... you know," She said, not wanting to bring Tess into this. 
> 
> She smiled again. "But it wasn't for long. After the whole fiasco, you know, at the pod chamber, he fixed that for me, too."
> 
> Liz looked a little wistful. Maria clambered from the pool, and reached out a hand to her friend. "Want to get something to eat?" She asked, motioning to the snack bar. 
> 
> Liz shook her head. "No, thanks. I think I'm going to read a little."
> 
> "Want someone to join you?" Maria asked, knowing that Liz might not tell her if she didn't want to be alone.
> 
> Her best friend shook her head a little more. "That's okay, thanks. I'm just going to catch up on my diary as best as I can. There's been too much going on to record much of it."
> 
> Maria smiled. "Okay."
> 
> Dear Diary:
> 
> It's me again. Maria and I just talked about what's going on with her and Michael, and she told me that she slept with him. Not like I hadn't figured it out, but it's nice not having any secrets between us again, even if they were poorly kept ones.
> 
> Isabel hasn't opened her eyes in hours. She really isn't happy. I wish there were something I could do for her, because I know that her shallow, fashion-oriented, make-up covered 'friends' haven't offered her anything in the way of support, but she rejects my help. She doesn't seem to know how to cope, and while I miss Alex like hell, I'm getting on with my life. She isn't.
> 
> Max told Michael, who told Maria, who told me, (I know, a very roundabout way to get your information!) that Isabel won't let him help her, either. Maria said Michael's tried, but met with the same resistance as everyone else.
> 
> And the bad thing is, she doesn't appear very un-Isabel-like to anyone else. She's snippy, she never laughs or smiles, and she doesn't put in appearances when she says she's going to during regular times, either. So no one has been very inclined to help her deal.
> 
> But, for now, since I can't do anything about it, I'm going to let Isabel have her space, and help if and when she'll accept it.
> 
> On a different, and happier, note, Maria went to the snack bar, and got an ice cream sandwich, which, if you watch closely enough, you can see Michael is feeding her. He's not one for public displays of affection, especially not ones involving mush, but hidden behind the arm of a lawn chair, apparently he feels safe enough. I can barely keep my eyes off them.
> 
> God, she's right. I am jealous. And it doesn't help matters any that my dream guy is sitting just at the other end of the pool, watching me. I know he is, even though I haven't looked up. I can always feel his eyes on my skin.
> 
> Max and I... Max and I are the definition of complicated. It's that easy and that hard to explain. But I don't feel like explaining it right now. I think, for the first time this summer, I might actually feel like... dealing with it, instead.

[1]

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   [1]: mailto:teneljade@netzero.net
   [2]: http://www.geocities.com/princess_mcphee/roswell.html
   [3]: http://www.geocities.com/princess_mcphee/rosfanfic.html



	2. Chapter Two

****

Swim

by

[Princess McPhee][1]

Disclaimer: I disclaim. Not mine. M. Metz, Jason Katims, UPN. All not me.

Summary: What will it take to get a little communication going between the so-far alienated Max and Liz this summer? Plus, how is Liz interacting with the rest of the crew?

Rating: PG-13

**

> Chapter Two

**

Liz had to wait an hour and half, mostly filling her time with diving and lap swimming, before Max got off duty. When the clock finally turned, she saw him jump from his post, and prepared to make her move. But he disappeared into the changing room, and she continued swimming, knowing he'd have to come back out to let Isabel know what he was doing.

She waited patiently, and Max reappeared five minutes later, having swapped the bright red life-guard trunks for a more... Max-like approach to life: plain black. She laughed a little at the thought. Nothing about Max was plain. But he had a tendency to blend into the background as his chosen color often did. In that way, he was nothing like Michael.

She continued to swim her laps, moving from the deep end into the middle, where she could stand. If it came to that, she wanted to be able to be standing while fighting rather than treading water or hanging onto the edge. There was just something more... _dignified_ about it.

Max jumped into the pool with a huge splash, an unusually playful smile playing around his lips. Of course, it wasn't an open smile, because the King was always serious, but Liz could see that he was in a better mood now than for a while. Surprising, because Kyle had continued to harass him into the last minutes of his shift.

Using a strong crawl stroke that Liz was sure had been one of his major assets in training, he swam up to Liz, and the smile disappeared. But he didn't appear, as he often did, unhappy, just appeared more serious than before. Then, all semblance of serious disappeared as he hooked an arm around her, under the armpits, and started to swim with her against his chest.

Liz laughed, but didn't struggle. Max's alien strength propelled them around the pool easily, and from the side, she heard his life-guarding buddy yell "Go, man!" 

"What are you doing?" She asked, between laughs.

"Practicing," Max told her, straight-faced. She couldn't believe this was her Max. He was so out of character. But she decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Practicing what?" She asked.

"My life-guarding skills."

They reached the shallow end of the pool, and Max set her down, taking his arm from around her chest. She wasn't surprised to find that she wished he was still touching her.

"Look, Liz, we need to talk."

"I know."

"Tomorrow?"

"After I get off. Here again, five o'clock?" She asked.

Max nodded. He looked at her longingly. Liz knew he wanted to kiss her. She knew because she wanted the same thing, desperately. But she forced herself to pull away from him, and smile as she left the area. She headed towards her pile of stuff.

Isabel was lounging beside her things on a reclined lawn chair. She had turned over since Liz had been back, and now the almost-thong that made up the back of her swimsuit was exposed. 

Liz picked up her stuff, and wrapped a towel around herself. "Isabel?" She asked.

Isabel turned her head in Liz's direction. "Yeah?"

"Do you want a ride home? I don't know if Max is going to be leaving soon, and I don't know what you think, but I think Michael and Maria might want to get home as fast as possible." She motioned to the couple, curled up with a decent amount of space between them, but with the same towels draped over them. One of Michael's hands was fondling her hair, and the other ran up and down her back, Liz could tell from the movements. She hoped they remembered that they were in public.

Isabel looked at Liz, then nodded. "Just a minute. I'll ask Max if he's going to stay."

She walked to the poolside, and motioned her brother. Liz could hear her talking to him, and then she returned. "Sure," She responded. "I'd like a ride. Thanks." 

She gave a little smile, and Liz returned a bigger one. Maybe she could crack Isabel's shell, yet.

Liz returned to the pool the next day, more than a little apprehensive. She and Max had a lot of talking to do, she knew that. And she wasn't so sure that the pool was the appropriate locale, but she wanted to be out in the open where Max couldn't use his powers. She wasn't afraid of him, but she was afraid that he might do something rash that could get discovered by someone.

She slipped into the water, smiling and grimacing a little at the same time. It was cold, and made her shiver, but the day was hot, and it felt good to get away from it. She plunged in to her shoulders, and quickly swam a lap using her own decent crawl stroke. 

"Liz!" She turned in the water, treading it between her feet, fixing her hair with her hands, to see Max waiting on the side. He was in trunks, but only wet up to the ankles. She swam over to join him.

"Hey," He greeted her with a shy smile. Liz loved that look. She wished, of course, that he wasn't uncomfortable talking to her, but at the same time, that abashed look made him look so... cute.

Suddenly, they found themselves in the moment, as they often had in the past. Nothing existed except both of them, and their problems went out the window. Max didn't have a son on a far-off planet, Liz wasn't keeping a secret about why she'd pretended to sleep with Kyle. And Alex wasn't dead, Tess hadn't betrayed them.

Max leaned in slowly, and while Liz's mind was screaming at her to retreat, she didn't. Instead, she just closed her eyes, and let his lips brush hers in a feathery kiss. He pulled away after just that, unsure where they stood, but Liz tugged lightly on his lower lip with her teeth, and he came back to her. 

In seconds, they were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't remember the pool, or the people in it existed. They didn't realize that around them, children were staring, single young adults were smiling wistfully, older, married couples tolerantly, and some elderly people and a few parents were glaring. Thus, the blow of the whistle was a sharp assault on their senses.

"Hey, Evans!" Yelled the life-guard, who sometimes partnered with Max. "Take it somewhere else!" He smiled a little, tolerantly, as he said this.

Max looked up, and into Liz's eyes. Or, rather, he tried to, since she wouldn't meet them. She blushed, and Max pulled her out of the pool, handing her a towel. They headed onto the grassy area surrounding the pools, and sat in the far corner. Liz lay out her towel, and sat down on it, rubbing her hands together nervously.

"Why are you working here?" She asked, out of the blue. It was just a question that had been rolling around in her head over the beginning of the summer, and she was curious as to the answer.

Max smiled a little, glad that she wasn't as embarrassed now that they were out of the public eye. Or, at least, farther out of it. "My mother's idea, and Isabel made me do it."

Liz shot him a questioning glance. "Mom thinks that I spend too much time inside, and Izzy thinks that I'm spending too much time trying to find... my son." He looked down, not having intended to bring up the touchy subject.

But Liz was determined not to let touchy subjects get in the way of her and Max having a real, honest talk. "Okay."

Max looked up, surprised that she wasn't upset, or at least not acting like it. "So... what did we need to talk about, Liz?" He asked.

It was Liz's turn to look at the ground. She knew what she wanted to say, but she wasn't sure how to say it, or even if she possessed enough courage to actually spit it out, should she figure out how she wanted to say it. "I guess... I guess I think we need to talk about us, Max."

The dark-haired alien wouldn't meet her gaze when she said this. "Yeah, we do, don't we?" He responded softly.

Liz nodded. "Max, we can't keep our hands, or our mouths" They both blushed, "Off each other. We have to do something."

Max reached up, and tilted her chin so that she was looking at him. "Well, how do you feel about it?" He asked.

Liz tried to escape his grip, but he held onto her, firmly but gently. "I can take whatever you tell me, Liz. And the truth needs to be forefront."

Liz met his eyes. "Well, then, I guess I'd have to say I'm not sure what to think. Or feel. I want to touch you, and I want to kiss you, and I want to feel the way we felt two years ago, but I'm hurt by what you did with Tess, and I'm scared that you'll have to leave someday, and I'm not sure what to think about the fact that you have a son out there somewhere." She looked down at the ground, surprised by the bluntness of her own speech.

Max sat back a little, trying to absorb it all. "I'm sorry, Liz, about what I did with Tess. But I thought we were over, and it hurt me, too, you know."

He looked at her, hard. "Liz, I need to know. What happened last year, the night of the concert?"

Dear Diary,  
It's a new day, and I'm Liz Parker. Actually, it's a new night, but it was day when I talked to Max today, at the pool.

I told him. I told him everything. From Future Max warning me that we would cause the end of the world, to how awful I felt when I pretended to sleep with Kyle. And we both cried so hard, and leaned on each other, and asked silly, pointless questions like why hadn't we known that Tess was bad.

I haven't felt so free in a long, long time. A weight is lifted off my shoulders, the world belongs to the King again, and is no longer sitting on the skinny, petite frame of this unfortunate girl, almost woman, who just happened to fall in love with an alien.

I almost don't remember that I once felt this way about life all the time. That there was a time when I didn't worry about slipping up and telling someone the Pod Squad's secret. That there was a time when I could laugh about aliens and an interplanetary war. That there was a time when I used to enjoy wearing antennae, and laughing at fake alien stories from tourists with cameras.

And though I don't have all those things back, I have something. I have my freedom. I have no more secrets from Max, nothing to tear us apart like we tore each other away from the other all of last year. Nothing that can ruin us in a moment, again.

Except one little child out there somewhere in the black of the universe.

[[1][2]] [2]

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   [1]: mailto:teneljade@netzero.net
   [2]: http://www.geocities.com/princess_mcphee/swim1.htm
   [3]: http://www.geocities.com/princess_mcphee/roswell.html
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